World Dec. 10, 2008 - 03:34AM JST ( 5 )

HARARE —

President Robert Mugabe’s government on Tuesday slammed the “dirty mouths” of foreign leaders calling for the veteran leader to quit, insisting that a deadly cholera epidemic was under control.

U.S. President George W Bush on Tuesday joined a growing chorus from world leaders calling for Mugabe to step down and urged an end to the 84-year-old’s “tyranny” in Zimbabwe.

“As my administration has made clear, it is time for Robert Mugabe to go,” said Bush, a day after European leaders tightened sanctions against the inner circle of Zimbabwe’s regime.

But the country’s information minister on Tuesday slammed the calls for Mugabe to quit, and accused the West of plotting a military invasion.

“I don’t have kind words for all heads of state who have made utterances against Zimbabwe, one by one and I hope this is the last time they open their dirty mouths on Zimbabwe,” information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told reporters.

“After squeezing and strangling the country with sanctions and contaminating it with cholera and anthrax, the West is seeking to use the window of opportunity provided by the disaster to justify military intervention,” he said.

“The cholera situation is under control,” Ndlovu insisted.

Bush praised African leaders who have been “bravely speaking out” against Mugabe and urged other regional leaders to “join the growing chorus of voices calling for an end to Mugabe’s tyranny”.

But neighboring powerhouse South Africa said it did not support the international calls for Mugabe to quit.

“The posture that we are assuming now is not the posture of pressurizing President Robert Mugabe to step down,” foreign affairs director general Ayanda Ntsaluba said.

International pressure has mounted on Mugabe to resign after a 28-year rule that has left the country’s economy in shambles amid a political deadlock after controversial elections earlier this year.

Most of Zimbabwe’s neighbors have remained silent or backed floundering negotiations aimed at forming a unity government.

Among Zimbabwe’s neighbors, only Botswana has taken a tough line against Mugabe—even suggesting that the region cut off fuel shipments to Zimbabwe to force him from power.

The cholera epidemic has raised alarms across southern Africa, with some tests detecting the disease in the waters of the Limpopo river, which flows across the region.

While aid agencies warned that cholera could hit 60,000 people, Ndlovu said the epidemic was under control and that the cash-strapped state had enough chemicals and foreign currency to purify water and mend sanitation lines.

So far, nearly 14,000 cases have been detected and hundreds of patients have crossed the border searching for treatment in South Africa, where at least eight have died.

Zimbabwe has declared a national emergency and appealed for international aid to fight the disease.

The country also faces crippling shortages of food, with nearly half the population expected to need emergency aid next month, according to the United Nations.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki brokered an agreement for Mugabe to form a unity government with the opposition in September, but the deal has faltered over disputes about how to divide control of powerful ministries.

Wire reports